


For Less Than That

by JKlog



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, First Time, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 18:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKlog/pseuds/JKlog
Summary: Someone from Blair's family is killed, and Jim and Blair investigate the case.This story is post-series. Blair is a detective.





	For Less Than That

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katef/gifts).



> Happy Holidays, Katef!

Jim and Blair were going along Clermont Street in the truck when they received the message on the radio. Someone had found a body in an apartment in a building two blocks away. Jim answered the call and they went to the scene of the crime. Once there, Blair recognized the building where his cousin Robert, the bookie, lived. He hoped nothing had happened to him.

They entered the building, and the concierge at the entrance led them to the apartment in question, which had the door open. There they found a brunette woman, in her forties, who was crying inconsolably. She was standing in the middle of a small living room. Blair's heart sank when he recognized Robert's wife.

"Mary! What happened?"

The woman removed her hands from her face to look at Blair. Her eyes were congested from so much crying.

"Oh, Blair! They killed him! They killed Robert!"

Blair hugged Mary and she cried on his shoulder. Jim followed his nose and the smell of blood took him to the room where Robert's body was. The unfortunate bookie was lying on his back on the floor in front of the bed, with a terrible bullet wound in his chest. He was in a pool of blood.

In addition to the smell of blood, Jim could smell something more, tobacco. It was not just any tobacco, it had something peculiar, like a menthol tincture, in it. Maybe Blair could help him identify it. But first he had to ask the wife if any of them smoked. He didn’t know if this Robert guy was Blair's cousin, but when he saw that Blair knew his wife, Jim guessed he most likely was.

At that moment, Jim felt a presence behind him and turned to see Blair, who was staring wide-eyed at the terrible scene. Jim already imagined the nightmares that were in the future of his partner, probably that same night. Blair had been a detective for a year, but that didn’t make him lose his sensitive nature. He was still hit very hard by situations like this one.

"Is it your cousin?" Jim asked.

Blair nodded, still looking at the corpse.

"Maybe we shouldn’t take this case, Chief," Jim said and rested his right hand on Blair's shoulder.

Blair took his eyes off the body and looked at Jim.

"No! I mean, yes! We have to investigate it. I want to know who did this."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

And he turned around, to go talk to Mary. Jim noticed that he hadn’t asked him about what he could perceive with his senses, as he always did at a crime scene. That indicated how affected by the situation he was.

Jim hated doing interrogations in situations like this, where the widow had found the body of her husband. But, luckily, Blair was dedicating himself to it, being as he was a people person.

"Mary, you'd better sit down," he said, and pushed her gently toward a couch. He sat by her side. The poor woman was calmer at that moment.

"Oh, Blair. I told him that his work was very dangerous. But he didn’t want to leave it, he said it was the only thing he knew how to do."

"Do you know if he received any threats recently?"

"I don’t know, he didn’t tell me anything about his work, he said it was better for me not to know anything. I only know that he wrote down everything in a red covered book."

"Do you know if he was still working for Glimmerman?"

"I don’t know. As I told you, he didn’t tell me anything about his job."

"Well, Mary, don’t worry. We’ll find who did this. I promise."

"Thanks, Blair. I know I can trust you."

At that moment, Forensics arrived. Jim and Blair left to let them do their work and took Mary to the station to make an official statement.

 

* * *

 

 

After Mary gave her statement, Blair took her to her parents' house. Obviously, she didn’t want to spend the night alone where her husband had died. Luckily the couple had no children.

Meanwhile, Jim sat at his desk and considered the facts. The door hadn’t been forced, so Robert surely let in the person who murdered him, so it was probably someone he knew. The concierge who attended the entrance of the building had had to leave due to a family emergency, so he didn’t know who had entered during that time. The notebook where Robert wrote the bets didn’t appear, so the killer must have taken it. This led to the conclusion that the homicide had to do with the betting business. Forensics would soon communicate the approximate time of death. Another thing was that neither Robert nor his wife smoked.

When Blair returned, Banks called them to his office.

"Ellison, Sandburg! To my office, now!"

Blair entered the office, followed by Jim. They both stood in front of the Captain's desk.

"You can sit down."

Jim and Blair sat down and proceeded to put the Captain in touch with their cases. When they dealt with the most recent case they had, Banks asked Blair, "Don’t you have a cousin who's a bookie and his name is Robert?"

Blair looked down and Jim answered for him.

"Yes, sir, it's the victim. It was Blair's cousin."

Banks widened his eyes and looked at Blair. "I'm so sorry, Blair."

"Thanks, Simon," Blair said, looking up.

"But this means you can’t take care of the case. I'll pass it to Brown and Rafe."

"No, Sim..., sir! Don’t take us out of the case, please! I promised his widow that I would find those responsible. I have to do it. I promise that I’ll be objective and impartial. Please!"

Jim remembered the case in which Orvelle Wallace had been accused of homicide and Blair had been stubbornly opposed to the idea, because it was his idol from his childhood. He had even withheld information that blamed him. But finally, Wallace had been proved innocent. Surely, this was going through Simon's mind at that moment.

"It’ll be better if there are no problems. You can keep the case."

"Thanks, sir. There will be no problems," Blair said, after releasing a sigh of relief.

Simon looked at Jim and he nodded, assuring that he would have everything under control. The Captain told them to leave and they left the office.

As it was time to leave work, they took their jackets and went to the elevator, waving to the co-workers of the next shift as they left.

 

* * *

 

 

That night, as expected, Blair had a nightmare. He dreamed that he was looking at his cousin's lifeless body and suddenly Robert was getting up. There was a lot of blood coming out of his wound in his chest, spurting and covering Blair. Blair could see that his cousin wanted to tell him something, but he was so scared he didn’t understand anything. Screaming, he woke up and found Jim sitting on the side of his bed.

"Calm down, buddy, it was just a nightmare," Jim told him and Blair hugged him, still very disturbed.

"Oh, Jim. It was so real. I dreamed about Robert."

Jim also hugged him, stroking Blair's mane with his right hand.

"I knew this would happen. Things like this hit you hard."

"Do you think I did wrong becoming a cop?"

"No, Chief. I don’t think so. I think you're the best cop I've ever met. Also, I wouldn’t like you to change. Your sensitivity is what makes you who you are, and I’d not ..."

Jim was silent. He had been about to unveil his true feelings for Blair. Although, maybe it was time to tell him. Something told him that Blair felt the same for him, but he wasn’t sure.

"You’d not what, Jim?"

Jim moved a little away from his Guide, to look him in the eye.

"I’d not love you any other way."

Blair widened his eyes and then smiled. His heart was filled with love and gratitude to his Sentinel, and Jim could see it in the expression on his face. They both approached slowly until their lips touched. The first kiss was shy and chaste, but very long.

When they parted, Blair said, "Stay with me tonight."

"I wouldn’t like anything more. But wouldn’t it be better to go upstairs? My bed is more comfortable."

Blair couldn’t believe that his so-long dream would come true. He didn’t answer the question, but, smiling, he got up from his bed and took Jim's hand, to guide him towards the stairs. They climbed slowly, as in a trance. When they reached the bed they kissed, still standing, but this time more passionately. Then, Jim helped Blair take off his shirt. Jim had already seen Blair semi-naked, but now he could also touch, caress, kiss. And that's what he did, after delicately tilting Blair onto the bed and covering him with his body. Blair let him do it, although he also wanted to participate actively.

They made love slowly, seeking to know each other more at this new level. Jim imprinted his Guide with all his senses, indelibly in his memory, trying to learn where the most sensitive spots were and which gave him the most pleasure. For his part, Blair tried to take full advantage of his Sentinel’s senses, telling him to increase his dials or lower them according to what he wanted him to feel. Jim obeyed without protest, and he could really verify that his Guide knew what he was doing. He had never enjoyed a sexual relationship as much as he was experiencing with Blair. And to the pleasure of controlling his senses, the pleasure of knowing what he felt for Blair must be added. He loved him totally and deeply, and he was certain that his feelings were reciprocated.

In the middle of the night, both totally satiated and exhausted, Blair told Jim, "By the way, I love you too." Jim fell asleep with a smile on his lips and Blair followed him, equally happy.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, in the bullpen, it was difficult for them to act as if nothing had happened. Both were sure that others would realize that things between them had changed. But the reality was that nobody noticed, and Jim and Blair realized it as the hours passed. The others treated them as they always did. Maybe because they already thought that they were together, if they were guided by the rumors that ran in the office.

After lunch, they decided to go and question Glimmerman, who was the man Robert worked for. Blair knew where he operated because Robert had arranged for an interview when he tried to clear Orvelle Wallace of his guilt over the murder of Dwight Roshman. At that time, Blair was still just an observer.

Now he was going to present himself as a policeman, and he knew that would change the way he was going to be received by Charles Glimmerman. In addition, he was going to be accompanied by Jim. Surely the bookie wouldn’t be very cooperative.

 

* * *

 

 

They went in Blair's car. He parked in front of the building where Glimmerman's offices were. When they got out of the car, they saw that the entrance to the building was guarded by two muscular men. They couldn’t see, but surely they were armed. Jim and Blair approached showing their badges.

"We are detectives Ellison and Sandburg. We want to talk to Mr. Glimmerman," Jim announced.

“About what?"

"We are investigating the murder of Robert Bailey."

"I'll see if he can receive you," said one of the men and entered the building. The other was watching the door and looking with a face of few friends to Jim and Blair. After five minutes, the man returned.

"He’s going to receive you. Go ahead."

And they stepped aside to let them pass. One of them led them to Glimmerman's office. Blair remembered the office from the other time he had been there, with the TV set aside, and the large window that showed the city behind the large desk.

Glimmerman stood up and extended his hand. "Hi, Detective Sandburg, I'm really sorry about what happened to Robert."

Blair shook the hand of the head of the bookies and so did Jim, who took the opportunity to smell the air of the office. There were traces of menthol tobacco.

"Thank you, Mr. Glimmerman. Could you tell me who got to keep Robert's clients?" Blair asked.

"I haven’t decided yet. But soon I will. Do you think the killer is one of ours?"

"We’re beginning to investigate, Mr. Glimmerman. We don’t know yet. Another question, do you smoke?" Jim asked.

"Yes, I smoke, why do you ask?"

"Could you show us what kind of tobacco you use?" Glimmerman took a box of cigarettes from his coat pocket and showed it to Jim. They were not menthol.

"Thank you, Mr. Glimmerman. Do you know if someone who frequents this office and who knows Robert smokes menthol tobacco?"

"I don’t understand the question, but yes, I know someone who smokes menthol tobacco and who knew Robert. Bennett, Eric Bennett. It’s one of my bookies. But I don’t think it was him. He’s ambitious, but not to the point of killing."

"Mr. Glimmerman, we've seen homicides for less than that. Where can we find Bennett?"

Glimmerman gave them the address of Bennett's house. Fortunately, he had been more cooperative than they had thought he’d be. They said goodbye to the head of the bookies and went to Bennett’s house.

 

* * *

 

 

Bennett's house was in the suburbs. It was a pretty house with a well-kept garden. Surely the neighbors didn’t know what he was doing for a living. They parked at a safe distance. Jim could see through the window that overlooked the garden, that there was a woman sitting on a sofa, watching television. Then he extended his hearing, while with his nose he sensed the scent of his lover and partner, as not to enter a zone-out. He could establish that the woman was alone in the house, he didn’t hear more heartbeats.

So they stayed waiting, after calling Banks to tell him what they were going to do.

Approximately three hours later, after a comforting nap by Blair on the lap of his Sentinel, a gray car appeared and parked in front of the house they were guarding. A man of about fifty, a little bald, descended from it. He had a notebook with red covers in his hand. He began walking towards the house.

Blair and Jim got out of the truck. Jim shouted, "Stop there, Bennett, Cascade P.D.!"

Bennett turned 180 degrees and stood for a moment looking at Jim and Blair, who continued to advance towards him. Then, he ran to his car and climbed on it. Jim and Blair returned to their car when they realized that Bennett was going to flee in his car.

A chase began at full speed. Bennett tried to lose Jim and Blair by going in the wrong way on several one-way streets, causing many vehicles to crash or get on the sidewalks to try to dodge it, putting the pedestrians in great danger. Jim tried to pass without causing too much trouble, but he was also nearly crashing into the cars that were coming in the opposite direction.

Even though Blair was wearing a seatbelt, Jim put his right arm to protect him, as he always did when he turned a corner at high speed. This made Blair feel good, and he found himself smiling even though they were in a situation that didn’t merit it.

Finally, Bennett couldn’t dodge a bollard in his escape and collided with it. The front of the car was destroyed. When Jim and Blair got out of the truck, with their weapons ready, they approached and saw that Bennett was unconscious. They called in to get a patrol car and an ambulance.

When the ambulance took Bennett to the hospital, followed by the patrol car, Jim put on latex gloves and checked in the car. There was the red covered notebook. Blair checked it, also with gloves, and could see that it belonged to Robert. They put the notebook in a evidence bag. Now it was only necessary to find the weapon with which Bennett had killed Robert and to compare it with the bullet that had been extracted from him.

 

* * *

 

 

Days later, having verified through the ballistics exams that Bennett was the murderer, it remained only for Blair to complete the reports with his characteristic obfuscations to cover the use of Jim's senses, which were then corroborated by the Captain's signature.

That Friday afternoon, Blair went to visit Mary to tell her that they had captured the killer. She was very grateful and told Blair that she had decided to sell the apartment and go live with her parents. She couldn’t bear to live in the place where her husband had died. Blair told her that he understood her and they both embraced, comforting each other.

Then Blair went to the loft, where Jim was waiting for him with everything to go camping for the weekend. Simon had given them Monday off, so they had three days. They were going to spend the time resting, fishing, but mainly making love under the stars. Both Jim and Blair knew that they had found a love that would last a lifetime, and perhaps beyond.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Best Wishes from your Secret Santa, and your mod.


End file.
